Adjusting to pregnancy: Chiropractic technique helps mothers-to-be

Their knees stiff and backs sore, aging baby boomers seem the most likely population to fill chiropractors’ waiting room chairs. But this is not the case at Chiro One Wellness Center, 2210 Camden Court, Oak Brook, where children swarm, their parents faithful subscribers of the idea that chiropractic care makes for lifelong wellness.

Dr. Maryam Ahsan works on patients of all ages, and her youngest cannot be found fighting over the brightly colored toys in the corner or running circles at top speed around the front desk. Instead she is content to quietly lap up attention from her spot in a nurse’s arms.

Arianna Giampaoli-Martinez of Westmont is only 2 months old, but seeing the chiropractor is nothing new for her. Just two minutes after her birth, Arianna came under Ahsan’s sure hand.

A supportive partner, an obstetrician and nurses swathed in scrubs are expected to lend a hand at that pivotal moment when, after nine months, a woman becomes a mother. Bypassing convention, Amanda Giampaoli-Martinez, Arianna’s mother, also requested the presence of her chiropractor.

“Dr. Maryam was driving when I called her and asked if she could come to the hospital. She just turned her car around,” Giampaoli-Martinez said. “When I was having bad pain, (Ahsan) put me on my side and adjusted me while I was on the table.”

Of course most of Ahsan’s expertise is put to use well before a woman’s water breaks.

Expectant women visit the doctor because she brings to her practice something several of her colleagues do not. Along with a real passion for pre-natal and infant chiropractic care, she is certified in Webster’s Technique, a method created by Dr. Larry Webster, founder of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association. Webster’s Technique is designed to lessen intrauterine constraint, which advocates claim leads to a quicker, less difficult delivery, and was first honed after a discovery that certain adjustments had a high success rate in reversing the position of breech babies. The adjustments also work to correct sublaxation, a partial dislocation of a bone in a joint. Adjustments on infants release kinks a baby naturally develops in the womb and to correct any misalignment that may have occurred from the birth.

“I adjust the pelvis to release certain pelvic imbalances, which allows the body to unwind itself,” Ahsan explained of her practices. “The adjustment of the spine is very gentle because hormones make ligaments lax during pregnancy. It doesn’t take much to get them back in proper alignment.”

Giampaoli-Martinez first sought out Ahsan after attending a Babies “R” Us seminar about chiropractic care during pregnancy.

She was six and a half months pregnant at the time and experiencing lower back pain.
“(Ahsan) did a lot of work on my lower back and hips,” Giampaoli-Martinez said. “You lie face down and she feels her way up your spine. The adjustments just make you feel a release.”

Appointments take about a half hour and the frequency of visits is based on the stage of pregnancy. Prices are determined following a consultation and examination.

According to Chiro One officials, centers accept most health, auto and workman’s compensation insurance plans, and participate with Blue Cross Blue Shield and Medicare.

“I went three times a week, and after a month my back pain was gone,” Giampaoli-Martinez said. “I was also having shooting leg pain and the hip alignment helped to take that away.”

When Giampaoli-Martinez went into labor on May 21, she only experienced two hours of what she termed “real pain.” The day after she delivered, she was up and walking around.

“I’ve already referred three of my friends (to Chiro One),” she said.

A practicing chiropractor for 25 years, Jeanne Ohm, executive director of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association, has used Webster’s Technique with countless pregnant women whom she recommends visit once a week and four times a month in their last trimester. She believes there is more to blame for women’s misalignment than their rapidly growing midsections.

“The female pelvis has a certain shape and size and it needs to line up with the cervix, but we are living a very sedentary lifestyle and that affects posture, spine and pelvic alignment,” Ohm said.

Ohm teaches a Webster’s Technique certification program that was enacted about 10 years ago. To date, 4,000 doctors have received their certification through the association, which has 2,000 members.

“There is no deep tissue massage with this technique. It’s a really light force,” she said. “Chiropractors will check the woman’s sacrum (pelvis bone) and press on different areas to restore balance. They turn her on her back and check her belly and a round ligament for tightness.

“There are no known contraindications or complications to the adjustments,” Ohm continued. “No one’s ever called back to report a problem, and I would definitely be the first to know. Osteopathic studies have shown the adjustments reduce labor time and fight dystocia (abnormal or overly long childbirth).”

Hoping to highlight the technique’s high efficacy rate, Ohm and colleagues are working on a report about Webster’s Technique in pregnancy.

“We’re gathering data from now until November, and we’re looking to publish sometime in the spring,” she said.

In addition to heading up the association, Ohm travels the country speaking to midwives and those in the obstetrics field about the technique. Increased exposure of the treatment and open dialogue between the groups is something both Ohm and Ahsan are striving for.

“There are still a lot of bridges being built,” Ahsan said.

Dr. Michael Halpern, an obstetrician-gynecologist with an office in Northbrook, monitored Giampaoli-Martinez during her pregnancy and would admit that there is relatively little communication between the obstetrics and chiropractic disciplines.

“In general, my experience with chiropractors is that sometimes they help, sometimes they don’t help,” Halpern said. “If one of my patients asks about seeing a chiropractor, I try to find out why they’re doing it. If it’s because they’ve always seen one and they just feel better when they go, I tell them to make sure that the chiropractor knows they’re pregnant and that the manipulations are minimal and gentle.”

For most issues like back or leg pain, however, Halpern recommends a physical therapist.

Board certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation, Dr. David Bilstrom, director of Oasis Center for Health in Hinsdale, feels that doctors practicing western medicine are by and large unfamiliar with chiropractic care. As a result, most medical doctors are apprehensive about giving moms-to-be the green light when they inquire about alternative practices, he said.

“Chiropractic care tends to be quite safe,” he said. “In the right hands, I would feel very comfortable seeing the treatment done.”

His one concern is that a chiropractor could perform the adjustments more than is necessary.

“There are chiropractors who will overtreat,” he said.

One to two visits to the chiropractor is all that would be needed for new babies who don’t present any complications, he said. Any problems a mother may be experiencing after birth should typically see resolution in eight to 12 sessions.

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